“This agreement complements our longstanding strategic initiatives to reduce the company’s emissions and become a more sustainable operator,” said Richard D. Fain, Chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “We are constantly looking for new ways to reduce our environmental footprint, both in the short and long term.”

The Reading PPA is uniquely validated as a carbon offset project under the Verified Carbon Standard. And it is expected to generate roughly 760,000 megawatt-hours per year over the duration of the 12-year agreement, which translates to enough clean energy to offset 10-12 percent of Royal Caribbean’s annual carbon emissions. With this novel approach, Royal Caribbean can address its Scope 1 emissions while continuing initiatives to advance sustainability efforts across the company’s fleet.

Royal Caribbean has a longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship, which the company expanded in 2016 to set ambitious and measurable goals to reduce its environmental footprint. It is also employing several technologies and innovations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create more efficient vessels, in addition to the agreement with Southern Power.

Corporate purchasing of clean power has seen a serious uptick in the past several years in markets around the world. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, companies have contracted for 8.7 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy to date in 2018. Just five years ago, this number topped out at 1 GW. With this new commitment, Royal Caribbean has joined the ranks of businesses working toward a better future, with renewable energy procurement as a key strategy.